Healthy soup recipes to help keep the chill at bay

Love or hate the cold weather, it’s sure to make us want to eat delicious, warm and nourishing food that won’t cost the earth to prepare. Check out these gorgeous healthy soup recipes that Nutrition Rocks have got for you and why not get creative in the kitchen this week – it is widely believed that cooking relieves stress – perfect for that bout of S.A.D. you might feel creeping in….

Turkey, Bacon and Lentil Soup

Synonymous with Christmas, turkey is the ideal winter meat. It’s low fat, filling and packed with flavour if you treat it right, and perfect for this chunky, high protein soup.

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

400g can of chopped tomatoes

400g can of green lentils, drained

125g cooked turkey, cut into bite sized pieces

1 very small onion, finely chopped

4 rashers bacon, sliced

1 clove garlic, finely sliced

1 carrot, finely diced

1 stick celery, finely diced

1 tbsp oil

750ml vegetable stock

1 bay leaf

Crusty bread to serve

Method:

heat the oil in a large pan then add the onion and fry until soft

add the bacon and continue to fry for 3 minutes

next add the garlic, carrot and celery and fry for a further minute

add the tomatoes, vegetable stock, bay leaf and lentils and simmer for about 10 minutes

when the vegetables are cooked, discard the bay leaf and remove half the soup and liquidise to a smooth consistency

return the liquidised soup to the pan

stir in the cooked turkey and heat through, adjusting the consistency of the soup with more stock if necessary

Enjoy with crusty bread, guilt free! You can also use other types of lentils for this soup, such as red lentils.